The Toughest Penguins Ever: The New Millennium

The first two decades of the new millennium set the gold standard for the Penguins in terms of physicality and toughness. Particularly, the Ray Shero Era that lasted from 2006-14.

His appreciation for toughness and tough guys no doubt was inherited from his father, former Broad Street Bullies coach Fred Shero, whose Flyers teams wrote the book on winning through intimidation.

Acutely aware that the club he inherited from Hall-of-Famer Craig Patrick lacked muscle and fire, the younger Shero immediately set about the task of making the Pens harder to play against.

The result?

The Steel City became a haven of sorts for some of the toughest players of the era. In no special order, Craig Adams, Arron Asham, Matt Cooke, Deryk Engelland, Hal Gill, Tanner Glass, Eric Godard, “Scary” Gary Roberts, Mike Rupp, Jarkko Ruutu and Chris Thorburn took up residence in the ‘Burgh. To say nothing of rugged home-grown skaters such as Paul Bissonnette, Ryan Malone, Brooks Orpik, Zach Sill and Joe Vitale.

An obscure sixth-round pick who worked his way up from the ECHL, Engelland caused quite a stir as a 28-year-old rookie defenseman when he kayoed Toronto’s imposing slugger, Colton Orr, then bloodied and battered Philly’s Jody Shelley two weeks later.

One of the toughest smaller men ever to lace on a pair of skates, Asham similarly and infamously knocked out the Caps’ much larger Jay Beagle.

Godard, tough as nails and very underrated in my book, dropped Oilers behemoth Steve MacIntyre (also briefly a Pen) with a thunderous volley of rights, in the process fracturing his foe’s orbital bone.

Roberts’ exploits have been well-documented on PenguinPoop. He would’ve been the subject of his own bio had he not been prominently mentioned in a recent article.

Two of the team’s more flamboyant battlers also happened to be NHL heavyweight champs.

“Big” Georges Laraque arrived on February 27, 2007, in a deal with the Coyotes for Daniel “Car Bomb” Carcillo, yet another frequent fighter who never played a regular season game for the Pens.

To say Laraque was larger than life, both in terms of bulk and personality, would be an understatement of equally vast proportions. Modestly listed at 6’3” and 253 pounds, Georges’ actual playing weight was probably closer to 270. A man so large that “Big” actually became grafted onto his name.

BGL’s reputation as heavyweight champ was firmly established by the time he’d arrived in the ‘Burgh. He quickly reinforced his rep by taking on Orr and equally imposing long-time rival Donald Brashear.

Laraque would drop the gloves 15 times during his season and change with the Pens, including rematches with Orr, Brashear and hulking Latvian Raitis Ivanans. (He’d famously wished “good luck” to Ivanans before a previous battle.)

The big guy wasn’t completely one-dimensional. Although a glacial skater, once Laraque glommed onto the puck it was nearly impossible to take it from him, especially along the boards. Talk about puck possession! Opposing skaters who tried to pry the rubber loose instead bounced off his humungous frame like so many ping-pong balls tossed against a brick wall.

The Pens’ second heavyweight champ arrived nearly a decade later. Including Jamie Oleksiak and Erik Gudbranson, one of three heavyweights (four if you count Tom Sestito) acquired by Shero’s successor, Jim Rutherford.

Ryan Reaves was perhaps even more colorful than Laraque, if that were possible. IMHO, a more lethal fighter. Blessed with a powerful 6’2” 225-pound frame and long arms, the son of Canadian Football League star Willard Reaves (and descendant of U.S. Marshal Bass Reaves) could really slug.

As an up-and-comer with the Blues, he twice took on Engelland, earning a quick decision and a draw. No easy feat. Like Laraque, his status as the capo dei capi of NHL enforcers was well established by the time he arrived via a controversial trade with the Blues in the summer of 2017.

In only his third game sporting the black and gold, “the Sheriff” battered outgunned Austin Watson and issued a beat down to Predators heavy Cody McLeod. Scored a goal for good measure, all in 6:23 of ice time.

The last figure was instructive. No lover of tough guys, Pens coach Mike Sullivan meted out ice time to the burly winger with an eye-dropper. Indeed, Reavo’s ATOI with the Pens dipped to a paltry 6:45, the second-lowest of his career.

A shame, too. Not only did Reaves execute his primary function with deadly precision, he could be an uber-physical force on the forecheck (316 hits for Vegas in ’19-20) if afforded the opportunity. Ryan had a big personality, too, and helped keep the team loose with his constant pranking of Phil Kessel.

Such was the way of things during the Sullivan era. Which brought a pronounced end, not only to Reaves’ brief eight-month stay, but to any semblance of toughness and physicality. Culminating in the sorry spectacle of rail-thin Marcus Pettersson, game as a butcher’s block but badly outgunned, fighting (and losing) most of the team’s more recent battles.

And so wraps up my series on the toughest Penguins. Hope you enjoyed it.